Over the years, the fortunes of Kings XI Punjab have hugely depended on the performance of their batting mainstays David Miller and Glenn Maxwell. When they fire, more often than not the case has been of Kings XI Punjab ending up on the winning side. This edition of the IPL however has not been the most rosy one for KXIP. Their most dependable banking duo of Miller and Maxwell have failed to fire in the seven games so far and the results are there to be seen as they are languishing at 8th position in the points table. Pacer Kyle Abbott acknowledged the duo’s lack of runs and hoped for a better show as the second half of the tournament gets underway. “They both know that they haven’t been in the greatest of forms,” Abbott said. “It hasn’t come through because of a lack of practice; it is just unfortunate that they have fallen into a form like this in a crucial part of the tournament. I am sure they are going to come alright and we have seen glimpses of it. Miller has batted nicely and he has shown glimpses of it here and there. Maxwell finished a game for us at home. I think they will come right and hopefully the second half will see some better results from them.” Abbott also believed a comeback from their current situation was possible in the tournament and decided to take a leaf out of Mumbai Indians’ book. “We are probably better than the results we have to show at the moment. It is important to get off to a good start and unfortunately we didn’t. Last year Mumbai didn’t start off well but took off later and this year they have done it again. They didn’t start well but at the moment they are sitting comfortably at the top of the table. It is important to get momentum and get off to a good start, though the tournament allows you a bit of grace to find your rhythm later on. We still have seven games left and all to play for to get into a playoffs position.” Kings XI Punjab are coming off a win in their previous game against table-toppers Gujarat Lions. They had a new leader in Murali Vijay who looked in the thick of things on his first day as captain. He brought about smart bowling changes and even led by example scoring a half-century. Abbott was of the opinion that the team has gelled well under Vijay’s leadership. “It has been a smooth transition from Miller to Vijay’s captaincy. Vijay is a senior player and even when Miller was the captain he always had something to say as a senior player should. He always got involved. It has carried on normally. It is just a different voice now. Vijay has always been there and never sat in the background. He always put in his opinion and I think he is going to do well in the next couple of games and the guys are behind him. We are looking forward to it.”